Ixodiphagus godens
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| Noyes , 2010 |
Ixodiphagus Godens is a wasp of the genus Ixodiphagus in the family Encyrtidae . The hyperparasite lays its eggs in the larvae and nymphs of one or more as yet unknown tick hosts . The hatching larvae feed ontheir hostas parasitoids . Ixodiphagus godens has so far only been found in Costa Rica .
description
From Ixodiphagus Godens only the females are known to date. They are small, dark-colored wasps whose appearance other chalcids equivalent, and have a strong case and slightly flattened physique. The color of the head and body is dark brown, the head with a metallic sheen and greenish-blue and purple reflections. Thorax and Gaster are a little brighter and have a less metallic shimmer. The body length is between 0.9 and 1.3 millimeters. The wingspan is well below two millimeters and the front wings are at least 2.3 times as long as they are wide. They are translucent at the base, otherwise partly dark and opaque.
The head is flattened at the top and about 2.6 times as wide as the front vertex , with a trim with bristle-like setae , which are located in conspicuous depressions. The three ocelli on the head form an angle of about 85 degrees at the front. The distance between the posterior ocelles and the edges of the complex eyes is significantly smaller than their own diameter. At the front of the head there are two mostly brown antennae close together . Their scapus is short and rather strong and is partly colored orange. It is followed by the pedicellus and a funiculus divided into six limbs. The first flagellomer of the funiculus is about as long as it is wide. The first four flagellomeres have no longitudinal sensilla , only the fifth and sixth flagellomer. The clavus is two-part, which is important to distinguish it from Ixodiphagus hookeri .
The scutellum is convex and has slight depressions with hair on the surface. The posterior edge of the hypopygium is slightly convex, in the middle it has a slight U-shaped indentation and a few thin setae. The legs have dark brown coxae and femora , the tibiae are lighter and may be pale orange-brown in color. The limbs of the tarsi , each with apical brown and distal orange-colored ends, are lightened; the front limbs are overall lighter than the rear ones.
Ixodiphagus godens is similar to the species Ixodiphagus hookeri . It differs from this through the two-part clavus. The posterior ocelles are far less from the edges of the complex eyes than their own diameter. In Ixodiphagus hookeri , the clavus is tripartite and the posterior ocelli are further than their own diameter from the edges of the complex eyes.
Way of life
All species in the genus Ixodiphagus are parasitoids . They lay their eggs in larvae or nymphs of various types of ticks , which serve as food for their larvae. The tick host of Ixodiphagus godens is not yet known.
distribution
Ixodiphagus godens has so far only been detected in Costa Rica . The type location is the Hitoy Cerere Biological Reserve in Limón Province ( 9 ° 39 ′ 1.1 ″ N , 83 ° 6 ′ 33.1 ″ W ). The 21 paratypes come from the provinces of Heredia , Limón and Puntarenas . In addition to Ixodiphagus godens , five other species of the genus Ixodiphagus occur in Costa Rica . Ixodiphagus texanus was described as early as 1907, the other four were described with Ixodiphagus godens in 2010 .
Systematics and taxonomy
Ixodiphagus Godens is one of 15 species of the genus Ixodiphagus Howard , 1907 in the monotypic tribe Ixodiphagini Howard , 1908. This belongs to the family Encyrtidae , a family of jewel wasps whose species almost without exception parasites of insects , spiders , mites are or ticks. The Ixodiphagini are the only tick parasites.
The first description was in 2010 by the Welsh entomologist John S. Noyes from the Natural History Museum in London. Noyes treated the subfamily Encyrtinae with the Ixodiphagini and other tribes in the third volume of his presentation of the Encyrtidae of Costa Rica. The holotype is in the collection of the Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad (INBio) in Costa Rica.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g John S. Noyes: Encyrtidae of Costa Rica (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) 3. Subfamily Encyrtinae: Encyrtini, Echthroplexiellini, Discodini, Oobiini and Ixodiphagini, parasitoids associated with bugs (Hemiptera), insect eggs (Hemiptera, Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, Neuroptera) and ticks (Acari) . Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute Volume 84. Gainesville, FL 2010, ISBN 978-1-887988-28-5 , pp. 649-660.
- ↑ John S. Noyes and Mohammad Hayat: A review of the genera of Indo-Pacific Encyrtidae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) . In: Bulletin of the British Museum of Natural History (Entomology) 1984, Volume 48, No. 3, pp. 131-395, here p. 288, digitized .
- ^ John S. Noyes: Encyrtidae (Insecta: Hymenoptera) . Fauna of New Zealand 13. DSIR Science Information Publishing Center, Wellington 1988, ISBN 0-477-02517-X , pp. 9-12, digitized .